Three Republicans want to be the next US senator from Missouri. Here's a sample of their grasp of the issues. Asked what the current minimum wage is, they responded:
Businessman John Brunner explained that at his beauty-care products company, with which he has not been actively involved since 2009, they always paid their employees more than the minimum wage anyway. He was against raising it, however, on the grounds that it would place a further burden on smaller businesses.
On further questioning by Brennan, Brunner did admit that he could not name the current level, with a straightforward “No, sir.”
Former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman said that the minimum wage is $7.50 per hour, 25 cents higher than the correct answer but kind of in the neighborhood.
She said the wage is “high enough as it is,” and that a higher wage can have the unintended consequence of creating a barrier to young people entering the labor market.
Rep. Todd Akin took the strongest line against the minimum wage itself as a concept: “I don’t think the government should be setting the prices or wages on different things. I don’t think that’s the function of the government. We have a government that whenever any government says we have to spend this much for this product or that product or you’ve got to pay this wage or whatever, that’s basically government control of the marketplace. It always its destructive and disruptive.”
He also went into further detail on the economic case, that it can create a barrier to young, untrained workers trying to enter the labor force.
Brennan then asked again, what the minimum wage level itself is. Akin replied: “My guess is its somewhere in the 6 or 7, but I don’t know the exact number right now.”
No one worth his or her salt in politics actually answers question about anything any more. They just pivot off the question to talk about something they were reminded to say by their handlers.
Businessman John Brunner explained that at his beauty-care products company, with which he has not been actively involved since 2009, they always paid their employees more than the minimum wage anyway. He was against raising it, however, on the grounds that it would place a further burden on smaller businesses.
On further questioning by Brennan, Brunner did admit that he could not name the current level, with a straightforward “No, sir.”
Former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman said that the minimum wage is $7.50 per hour, 25 cents higher than the correct answer but kind of in the neighborhood.
She said the wage is “high enough as it is,” and that a higher wage can have the unintended consequence of creating a barrier to young people entering the labor market.
Rep. Todd Akin took the strongest line against the minimum wage itself as a concept: “I don’t think the government should be setting the prices or wages on different things. I don’t think that’s the function of the government. We have a government that whenever any government says we have to spend this much for this product or that product or you’ve got to pay this wage or whatever, that’s basically government control of the marketplace. It always its destructive and disruptive.”
He also went into further detail on the economic case, that it can create a barrier to young, untrained workers trying to enter the labor force.
Brennan then asked again, what the minimum wage level itself is. Akin replied: “My guess is its somewhere in the 6 or 7, but I don’t know the exact number right now.”
No one worth his or her salt in politics actually answers question about anything any more. They just pivot off the question to talk about something they were reminded to say by their handlers.
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